18 Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. 19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. ~ 1 Peter 2:18-20
Today, we continue our study of 1 Peter 2 where the Apostle has been helping us to deal with the pressures of living in a fallen world by directing our attention to our sovereign God and His culture. The thrust of today's passage is living life in such a way that others take note of our allegiance to the truth of God and to the God of the truth.
In v.18 of today's passage we read, "Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh."
There are two types of fear found in the scriptures. The first is the type of fear which causes us to run and hide from God. This type of fear was demonstrated by Adam and Eve just after they refused to obey the command of God not to take of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. This type of fear is most often a product of our poor choices with reference to God's definition of things.
In this passage, we discover the second type of fear. It is an respectful awe of God which produces in us a trust in His sovereign control in this world. This fear is most often a product of being reminded that we desperately need God. It is this respectful awe that causes us to be defined by His thoughts, His ways, and, His culture.
The word the Apostle uses in v.18 for "slaves" renders a meaning that is not consistent with what we normally think of when we think of slaves. The word "servants" here, oiketeia in the Greek, is the word for household slaves. In the first century culture in that part of the world most of the slaves served some home owner in some way. And these first-century slaves were generally well-treated. Today's equivalent is more like an employee who applied for a job and got it.
Trusting the Lord produces in us a confidence in Him
that He will bring lasting good out of the temporary discomfort that a boss can bring into our lives. Growth often includes pain. It is often through our pain and suffering that God reveals Himself to us most. Pain has a way of opening up our hearts to a deeper relationship with whomever, especially with God.
In Matthew 16:24, the Lord Jesus said, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." This teaching is not about us getting into heaven, it is about heaven getting into us now. This is not justification teaching, it is sanctification teaching. This teaching is what sets the believer in Christ apart in this dark and fallen world. This teaching is all about the wisdom of God which the fear of the Lord is its ignition.
In v.19-20 of today's passage we read, "19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God."
In this passage, we discover the second type of fear. It is an respectful awe of God which produces in us a trust in His sovereign control in this world. This fear is most often a product of being reminded that we desperately need God. It is this respectful awe that causes us to be defined by His thoughts, His ways, and, His culture.
The word the Apostle uses in v.18 for "slaves" renders a meaning that is not consistent with what we normally think of when we think of slaves. The word "servants" here, oiketeia in the Greek, is the word for household slaves. In the first century culture in that part of the world most of the slaves served some home owner in some way. And these first-century slaves were generally well-treated. Today's equivalent is more like an employee who applied for a job and got it.
Trusting the Lord produces in us a confidence in Him
that He will bring lasting good out of the temporary discomfort that a boss can bring into our lives. Growth often includes pain. It is often through our pain and suffering that God reveals Himself to us most. Pain has a way of opening up our hearts to a deeper relationship with whomever, especially with God.
In Matthew 16:24, the Lord Jesus said, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." This teaching is not about us getting into heaven, it is about heaven getting into us now. This is not justification teaching, it is sanctification teaching. This teaching is what sets the believer in Christ apart in this dark and fallen world. This teaching is all about the wisdom of God which the fear of the Lord is its ignition.
In v.19-20 of today's passage we read, "19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. 20 But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God."
The recipients of this letter were servants who had been beaten by their masters. They were those who were given unreasonable tasks. And, they did not have union representatives. They did not have human resource departments. They did not have government agencies to appeal their case. They could not bring a civil lawsuit against an employer. They were slaves to a master and life was harsh, but Peter reminded them of the truth to be careful to be defined by the truth.
The truthful reminder here is: If we take it patiently for the conscience sake before the Lord, God loves that. Like Daniel of old, the believer in Christ, when accused wrongfully by others, we are to continue to be defined by the truth. We are to be like Joseph who was accused of doing things wrong. He was put in prison on a couple different occasions by the lies of other people. He did nothing wrong. In fact, at the end of all that Joseph said, "You meant it for evil, God meant it for good." This is the angle for the one being defined by the truth.
In James 1:2-4 we read, "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."
According to Nehemiah 8:10, God's joy is our strength. And, most often, we only realize His joy when life is at its worse and we are forced to look to Him for help. We can not manufacture this fruit of God's presence in our lives, it comes as a gift as we venture into life choosing to be defined by Him. When we choose to rejoice in God rather than in our circumstances, we are positioned to experience His joy. And with His joy comes strength to face life's challenges. His joy grants us strength to serve God and others, and strength to obey His Word. It's not easy to trust God during difficult times, but choosing to rejoice in His involvement in our lives gives us the strength we need to get through the trials with joy.
Christianity does not abolish the social differences that are evident among us, but it introduces a new way of dealing with those differences. God's solution to mankind's differences comes out of our new relationship with Him. In turn, we are given a new way to navigate our fallenness wherein trust in God is inculcated and the end result is the introduction of God's culture into our very lives.
According to Nehemiah 8:10, God's joy is our strength. And, most often, we only realize His joy when life is at its worse and we are forced to look to Him for help. We can not manufacture this fruit of God's presence in our lives, it comes as a gift as we venture into life choosing to be defined by Him. When we choose to rejoice in God rather than in our circumstances, we are positioned to experience His joy. And with His joy comes strength to face life's challenges. His joy grants us strength to serve God and others, and strength to obey His Word. It's not easy to trust God during difficult times, but choosing to rejoice in His involvement in our lives gives us the strength we need to get through the trials with joy.
Christianity does not abolish the social differences that are evident among us, but it introduces a new way of dealing with those differences. God's solution to mankind's differences comes out of our new relationship with Him. In turn, we are given a new way to navigate our fallenness wherein trust in God is inculcated and the end result is the introduction of God's culture into our very lives.
